I cannot seem to master it how I have in the past.I have tried with both Fulham and QPR and I can get 70% possession, 20-30 shots per game but I keep losing.I oddly seem to perform much better against the top 4 sides and get draws and the odd win vs them as opposed to lower sides.So infuriating.I have managed to get sacked at Fulham, get a league 2 job and work my way backup to the Championship with the same tactic, so it works at times.But man, the Prem sides are fighting me.

I cannot seem to master it how I have in the past.I have tried with both Fulham and QPR and I can get 70% possession, 20-30 shots per game but I keep losing.I oddly seem to perform much better against the top 4 sides and get draws and the odd win vs them as opposed to lower sides.So infuriating.I have managed to get sacked at Fulham, get a league 2 job and work my way backup to the Championship with the same tactic, so it works at times.But man, the Prem sides are fighting me.

Most of my side have an av.rating of around 7.2 as well, which belies the league position!

I play 4-4-2 usually on Control or Attacking at home and then Standard when away.Short passing and offside trap.

Id use 3 CM's/DM if you want to play possesion football. Its what I play with Liverpool I average 60-65% possesion each game with 20-30 shots a game I play a 4-3-3. Ive also won every competition there is only lately have i added a new tactic which is more for destroying weaker teams at home but my possesion is usually 48-55% but could careless when im winning 6-0/7-0/8-0. That tactic is a 4-2-3-1 basically an attacking 4-3-3 so instead of a DM its now a AM. Still use my possesion tactic away from home and against stronger teams at home though.

But yea the whole point of possesion football is to control the midfield most teams probably have 3 CM's and your leaving alot more space behind your midfield for you to be exposed thats why i employ a DM so the rest of my players can focus alot more on attacking.

I cannot seem to master it how I have in the past.I have tried with both Fulham and QPR and I can get 70% possession, 20-30 shots per game but I keep losing.I oddly seem to perform much better against the top 4 sides and get draws and the odd win vs them as opposed to lower sides.So infuriating.I have managed to get sacked at Fulham, get a league 2 job and work my way backup to the Championship with the same tactic, so it works at times.But man, the Prem sides are fighting me.

Most of my side have an av.rating of around 7.2 as well, which belies the league position!

I play 4-4-2 usually on Control or Attacking at home and then Standard when away.Short passing and offside trap.

Id use 3 CM's/DM if you want to play possesion football. Its what I play with Liverpool I average 60-65% possesion each game with 20-30 shots a game I play a 4-3-3. Ive also won every competition there is only lately have i added a new tactic which is more for destroying weaker teams at home and it rapes but my possesion is usually 48-55% but could careless when im winning 6-0/7-0/8-0. That tactic is a 4-2-3-1 basically an attacking 4-3-3 so instead of a DM its now a AM. Still use my possesion tactic away from home and against stronger teams at home though.

But yea the whole point of possesion football is to control the midfield most teams probably have 3 CM's and your leaving alot more space behind your midfield for you to be exposed thats why i employ a DM so the rest of my players can focus alot more on attacking.

Thanks.I will give it a shot.So should I go with 1 DM and 2 CMs? Play them in a DM position or CM with def mid role?If that makes sense, I never know whether to play them in DMC or MC with def mid setting.Also, do you then play wingers in RW and LW or LM and RM. I play RM and LM at present.And finally, means no AMC then?

A couple things to consider, first of all. Are the majority of your shots coming from distance? With 20-30 shots per game, you should be in an ideal position to win your games but if most of them are from distance then that's not the case. If most of your shots are from distance, then tweak individual instructions to limit the frequency of long shots. Also look at how much creativity is in your team, if you've got low creativity or don't have enough players that can create chances from crosses, through balls or attacking play, then that can affect the quality of chances you're creating.

The second thing is, how do you usually concede? Are you being hit on the counter, suffering at the end of crosses or consistently being skinned? I'm not a fan of using the offside trap and I can imagine it might be the source of your problems, especially against teams who'll counter you or have a bit of pace.

Basically analyze the teams performance using match stats and team analysis, lets you build up an idea of what your team is doing well and what you do poorly and you can tweak as you go. Obviously other things come in to play, such as morale and the ability of your players. Also using the right roles for each player and balancing them within the tactic too.

A couple things to consider, first of all. Are the majority of your shots coming from distance? With 20-30 shots per game, you should be in an ideal position to win your games but if most of them are from distance then that's not the case. If most of your shots are from distance, then tweak individual instructions to limit the frequency of long shots. Also look at how much creativity is in your team, if you've got low creativity or don't have enough players that can create chances from crosses, through balls or attacking play, then that can affect the quality of chances you're creating.

The second thing is, how do you usually concede? Are you being hit on the counter, suffering at the end of crosses or consistently being skinned? I'm not a fan of using the offside trap and I can imagine it might be the source of your problems, especially against teams who'll counter you or have a bit of pace.

Basically analyze the teams performance using match stats and team analysis, lets you build up an idea of what your team is doing well and what you do poorly and you can tweak as you go. Obviously other things come in to play, such as morale and the ability of your players. Also using the right roles for each player and balancing them within the tactic too.

Do you know the first part annoys me because barring my striker, amc and wingers. I have the rest of the team on limited shots. So they shouldn't be long shots. I will check in the next game.The creativity is a point, if it is low, I'm guessing only Taarabt, Faurlin, possibly SWP are main guys, what should I amend to counter that? Set everyone else to restricted creativity and let them run loose so to speak?

Yeah it seems to be stuff like corners or just one off chances. I am playing the offside trap, purely because I'm an advocate of it in real life, so set my tactics up like I would want a real side to play.However maybe you are correct and I should take that off. Can I keep a high-ish line with it off?

TheHudd, I like to take long shots off everyone in my team, you'll find that if a long shot is still on they'll take it otherwise they'll look for better chances. Improved a lot of my tactics by simply taking off long shots, especially if you play the possession game.

About playing a high line and the offside trap. I like to use a high line but I don't use the offside trap. What I do is, have my players closing down and pressing the ball. Also set my tackling to aggressive (take off aggressive tackling for volatile players). By using this method (Barcelona-esque), it allows me to play a high line and push my opponents into their own half and if I lose the ball, my team look to get the ball back before they have a chance to counter.

For creativity, use player roles that will get the most out of their creativity i.e. playmakers and for other non-playmaker roles, if a player has good creativity up his creative freedom a couple notches. Also like to give players with flair/dribbling/pace a bit more freedom than most, it allows them to break free from the tactic and produce a bit of individual brilliance that you sometimes need.

I cannot seem to master it how I have in the past.I have tried with both Fulham and QPR and I can get 70% possession, 20-30 shots per game but I keep losing.I oddly seem to perform much better against the top 4 sides and get draws and the odd win vs them as opposed to lower sides.So infuriating.I have managed to get sacked at Fulham, get a league 2 job and work my way backup to the Championship with the same tactic, so it works at times.But man, the Prem sides are fighting me.

Most of my side have an av.rating of around 7.2 as well, which belies the league position!

I play 4-4-2 usually on Control or Attacking at home and then Standard when away.Short passing and offside trap.

Id use 3 CM's/DM if you want to play possesion football. Its what I play with Liverpool I average 60-65% possesion each game with 20-30 shots a game I play a 4-3-3. Ive also won every competition there is only lately have i added a new tactic which is more for destroying weaker teams at home and it rapes but my possesion is usually 48-55% but could careless when im winning 6-0/7-0/8-0. That tactic is a 4-2-3-1 basically an attacking 4-3-3 so instead of a DM its now a AM. Still use my possesion tactic away from home and against stronger teams at home though.

But yea the whole point of possesion football is to control the midfield most teams probably have 3 CM's and your leaving alot more space behind your midfield for you to be exposed thats why i employ a DM so the rest of my players can focus alot more on attacking.

Thanks.I will give it a shot.So should I go with 1 DM and 2 CMs? Play them in a DM position or CM with def mid role?If that makes sense, I never know whether to play them in DMC or MC with def mid setting.Also, do you then play wingers in RW and LW or LM and RM. I play RM and LM at present.And finally, means no AMC then?

You can do either I play 4-2-3-1 at home with an AMC and def mid role in CM with a Deep Lying and then away or against tougher teams id play 4-3-3 with 2 CM's a Advanced Player Maker and Deep Lying and then a DM. Either way you have 3 central mids to control the midfield. And both those tactics would involve RW and LW players do people still play ML and RL? Ive never done that I want my wingers to focus on attacking hence why I have 3 midfielers if you only have 2 then you need your wingers to do alot more defending id prefer my wingers to score goals and create goals.

TheHudd, I like to take long shots off everyone in my team, you'll find that if a long shot is still on they'll take it otherwise they'll look for better chances. Improved a lot of my tactics by simply taking off long shots, especially if you play the possession game.

About playing a high line and the offside trap. I like to use a high line but I don't use the offside trap. What I do is, have my players closing down and pressing the ball. Also set my tackling to aggressive (take off aggressive tackling for volatile players). By using this method (Barcelona-esque), it allows me to play a high line and push my opponents into their own half and if I lose the ball, my team look to get the ball back before they have a chance to counter.

For creativity, use player roles that will get the most out of their creativity i.e. playmakers and for other non-playmaker roles, if a player has good creativity up his creative freedom a couple notches. Also like to give players with flair/dribbling/pace a bit more freedom than most, it allows them to break free from the tactic and produce a bit of individual brilliance that you sometimes need.

I cannot seem to master it how I have in the past.I have tried with both Fulham and QPR and I can get 70% possession, 20-30 shots per game but I keep losing.I oddly seem to perform much better against the top 4 sides and get draws and the odd win vs them as opposed to lower sides.So infuriating.I have managed to get sacked at Fulham, get a league 2 job and work my way backup to the Championship with the same tactic, so it works at times.But man, the Prem sides are fighting me.

Most of my side have an av.rating of around 7.2 as well, which belies the league position!

I play 4-4-2 usually on Control or Attacking at home and then Standard when away.Short passing and offside trap.

Id use 3 CM's/DM if you want to play possesion football. Its what I play with Liverpool I average 60-65% possesion each game with 20-30 shots a game I play a 4-3-3. Ive also won every competition there is only lately have i added a new tactic which is more for destroying weaker teams at home and it rapes but my possesion is usually 48-55% but could careless when im winning 6-0/7-0/8-0. That tactic is a 4-2-3-1 basically an attacking 4-3-3 so instead of a DM its now a AM. Still use my possesion tactic away from home and against stronger teams at home though.

But yea the whole point of possesion football is to control the midfield most teams probably have 3 CM's and your leaving alot more space behind your midfield for you to be exposed thats why i employ a DM so the rest of my players can focus alot more on attacking.

Thanks.I will give it a shot.So should I go with 1 DM and 2 CMs? Play them in a DM position or CM with def mid role?If that makes sense, I never know whether to play them in DMC or MC with def mid setting.Also, do you then play wingers in RW and LW or LM and RM. I play RM and LM at present.And finally, means no AMC then?

You can do either I play 4-2-3-1 at home with an AMC and def mid role in CM with a Deep Lying and then away or against tougher teams id play 4-3-3 with 2 CM's a Advanced Player Maker and Deep Lying and then a DM. Either way you have 3 central mids to control the midfield. And both those tactics would involve RW and LW players do people still play ML and RL? Ive never done that I want my wingers to focus on attacking hence why I have 3 midfielers if you only have 2 then you need your wingers to do alot more defending id prefer my wingers to score goals and create goals.

Ok, changed to 4-2-3-1, will see how I fare for the 2nd half of season.Will report back in a while.